May 26

It was rainy today so I had lunch in the conference room at work. The outside of the USW building is designed a little like a waffle iron, and the windows inside are shaped accordingly.





My big triumph today was finding the bus stop! It's been hiding from me because of all the construction downtown but I finally found the little bugger. It's the difference between a 15 minute ride home and a ride that can take an hour plus. It's a little like finding the holy grail.

When I got home I needed to return some stuff to the library so I headed down the alley behind my house and found the following delights:





The local library really does need to be remodeled; here's what it looks like now.



Remember the monstrous huge church that I took a picture of a few days ago? This is what it looks like up close:



To get to the library I have to cross the Busway. The Busway is a special highway that's only for buses. The Busway is what makes my ride home only 15 minutes when a regular bus takes an hour. It doesn't look like much but the Busway is one of my favorite things about my neighborhood right now. As I was taking the picture, my bus came running under so I got a good shot of it. I waved.



Love, Sarah

May 21-24

On Thursday I started my internship, which is exceedingly cool. So far I'm just doing research (one Duty of Fair Representation case, one weird case involving a company who won't pay up). The folks there are really fun and they took us out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant downtown, which was very scrumptious. Still learning my way around down there. Here's a picture of a random skyscraper:



On Friday, rather than spend a three-day weekend in a city where I know no one as yet, I decided to come back to Ohio with Chris (the drive is about 1.5 hours) and hang out on his brother Joe's new sailboat. Here's us being boaters on Saturday:










Saturday night we had a cookout and tossed a frisbee around for a while. Today Chris brought me back to the city and then headed back to Indiana. I miss him an awful lot; it's been mighty fun exploring the city with him.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Love,
Sarah

May 20

Today I had my video teleconference interview with the NLRB in Indy - yes, I'm still in Pittsburgh; they just networked with the regional office here so we could talk about the externship. They said they'll let the applicants know asap so we can work around our class schedules. So we'll see. That was another big adventure downtown - I always manage to get where I'm going but I still have to walk around a bit to find the bus stop to go home. Doing so in high heels is a joy.

In the afternoon Chris and I stopped by the bodega around the corner and found that it's full of Turkish delight. Well, not quite full, but in addition to the usual candy, soft drinks, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and odds & ends, it's got halva, dolmas, baklava, couscous, and yes Turkish delight. So if I get a bug up to cook mediterranean at midnight, I'm set, even if I don't have the ingredients in the house.

Then we went to the Mellon Park, which is about 5 blocks away from my sublet. A very fulfilling afternoon.

May 18-19

May 18: We headed into town about midday, through the oddly adorable industrial town of Steubenville, WV, which involves the prettiest bridge I've ever seen in person. It sort of looks like an angel from a distance.



But when you go over, it looks like a spider.



Going into Pittsburgh you have to face the Fort Pitt Tunnel, which actually goes under a mountain, which is a little scary when one has grown up in the open fields.



But then you come out onto the Fort Pitt Bridge into downtown, and it's like coming into, well, the Emerald City, actually.



We got the apartment all squared away. These pictures don't quite do it justice b/c I took them at night. During the day, light and air pour in through the windows. For such a small space, it's surprisingly well-appointed.






We went to the Giant Eagle, which is the normal grocery store about 3 blocks away (there's a Whole Foods just down the street but it seems to be frequented entirely by self-righteous yuppies complaining about the bananas) and got provisions for the week. I was sawing logs by 10:00. Big day.

May 19: This morning up early (the sun coming through those windows really makes it easy to bounce out of bed) and rode the bus downtown to see how long it would take. Took a picture of Duquesne Heights, which is a neighborhood perched precariously on the bluffs just across the Monongahela River. (Chris and I are getting a kick out of pronouncing Duquesne the way it's spelled, as opposed to Doo-Kayne, which is how it ought to be spelled if they wanted it to be pronounced that way.)



Here are some pictures of my neighborhood.




In the afternoon I got a library card at the local branch of the Carnegie Library (!) which I probably won't use as much as you would think because in June they're closing the neighborhood branch for remodeling. Oh well.

I'm still figuring out the internet connection. My plan is to get into the habit of getting up early, heading over to the coffee shop for my morning cuppa, and using their internet to do whatever needs doing. Posting may be spotty until I establish some sort of schedule.

Love, Sarah

I'm going to attempt to keep everyone updated via blogging this summer, if I have adequate time/internet access. Stay tuned.

wow.

A letter from the President of IU concerning the flu and its effect on graduation proceedings.